Six Nations 2013: winning in Dublin could be a watershed moment for the England team

This was a victory that felt like a watershed moment for this team. It may not
have been a day for attacking rugby but it was all about territory and
defence and putting Owen Farrell in the right position to kick goals.

Watershed moment: Chris Robshaw says that England's victory against Ireland has given his team massive belief.Photo: ACTION IMAGES

We had not won in Dublin in the Six Nations for 10 years and for this team to do that has given us massive self-belief.

We wanted to put down a marker and our message to the team before kick-off was: 'no backward step’ and I think we did that yesterday.

This group of players is always fired up and relishes these types of challenges in cauldron atmospheres like at the Aviva Stadium. When you are on the road you have to be smart. We had noted how well Ireland had started against Wales and expected them to come out firing in front of their supporters. We were fully aware of how hard it was going to be. Various bits and pieces had been said in the press but we focused on ourselves.

It was important to draw on the experience of coaches such as Graham Rowntree, who had been to Dublin before, and listen to what worked well and what did not. There was a feeling that two years ago the team sat back a bit and that got Ireland and their crowd going. We did not want a repeat of that so we had to go from minute one.

We had to impose ourselves. The conditions were ideal for running rugby; it was more about territory and our nine and 10 combinations were great and our back three fielded the high balls superbly. Even when things got a bit edgy off the ball, there was a real urgency and our reaction demonstrated that we were not going to be bullied. We wanted to come to Dublin and put our foot down first.

We had worked hard last week on combating their choke tackle and for the majority of the time we negated it. It is a real strength of theirs, it gets their crowd and their team going and to nullify that gave us a significant edge. The key was in running a little bit lower because if you run upright they are very good at holding you up there. You also have to look after your mates.

As soon as the ball carrier goes in there, you cannot stand off him. You have got to go straight in there, get the tackler out of the way and make sure you are going forward.

The big test came for us when James Haskell was sent to the sin bin in the second half. Their crowd had started to get up, their players started to get up and we had to take the sting out of the situation. That is what we did. Everyone else rallied around after James went off. You plan for those things so when they do happen it does not surprise the side and you do the right things at the right time.

We managed the time well. It is about being constructive. It might be driving a line-out instead of taking the ball off the top to use up another 30 seconds out of the 10 minutes and our game leaders were excellent in their decision-making.

It was about expecting the unexpected and taking the energy out of the Irish attack. Our defence was brilliant. To keep pressuring them and knocking them back was what we wanted and critically we were able to outscore Ireland during James’s absence.

Ben Youngs and Owen put us in the right position and the back three dealt excellently with the high ball.

If this performance was right up there, we know we still have three massive games to go and I know our coaching group will keep our feet on the ground and not let us look too far ahead.

We have a lot of sore bodies after two very physical Tests and have a couple of days off this week as we have no game next weekend. Then we will start reviewing the match and start preparing for the potential of a France backlash after their defeat by Wales.

We enjoyed the dinner last night but we just want to get back to Twickenham and our fantastic supporters now and kick on again. It is all about France now.